Support Plans and Partner Resources

Support plans, Support Center, re:Post, Knowledge Center, Partner Network, Marketplace, Professional Services, Solutions Architects, IQ, AMS and Activate.

What is it?

AWS offers paid support plans and many free and paid resources to help you learn, solve problems and find expert partners.

Support plans (all include 24/7 access to customer service, documentation, whitepapers, support forums, Health Dashboard and core Trusted Advisor checks):

- Basic: free; account and billing support, and a limited set of Trusted Advisor checks. - Developer: business-hours email access to Cloud Support Associates; for testing and early development. - Business: 24/7 phone, chat and email with Cloud Support Engineers, full Trusted Advisor checks, and 1-hour response for production system impaired cases (newer Business Support+ adds faster responses and AI-assisted help). - Enterprise On-Ramp: adds a pool of Technical Account Managers, a Well-Architected review, and faster response (30 minutes for business-critical issues) for important workloads. - Enterprise: a designated TAM, infrastructure event management, concierge for billing and the fastest response (15 minutes for business-critical system down). Plan names, prices and response times change, so verify on the AWS Support page.

Where to get help

  • AWS Support Center: open and manage cases.
  • AWS re:Post: community Q&A, the successor to the AWS forums.
  • AWS Knowledge Center: answers to frequently asked support questions.
  • AWS Prescriptive Guidance: strategies, guides and patterns for migration and modernization.
  • AWS Trust & Safety: report abuse of AWS resources such as spam, malware or DDoS originating from AWS.
  • Documentation, whitepapers, blogs, Well-Architected resources and AWS Skill Builder for self-paced training.

Partners and professional help

  • AWS Partner Network (APN): companies that build on or resell AWS. Independent software vendors (ISVs) offer software on AWS; systems integrators (SIs) and consulting partners design and implement solutions. Partner benefits include training, technical support, co-marketing, and sales support; partners can earn tiers and competencies that signal expertise.
  • AWS Marketplace: digital catalog of third-party software, data and services. Features: pay-as-you-go or subscription pricing, charges on your AWS bill, free trials, private offers, and quick deployment (AMIs, SaaS, containers).
  • AWS Professional Services: AWS consultants who help deliver specific outcomes. Solutions Architects give free architecture guidance. AWS IQ connects you with certified freelance experts. AWS Managed Services (AMS) operates your AWS infrastructure for you. AWS Activate gives startups credits, training and support.

Explain like I'm 10

Support plans are like roadside-assistance memberships: Basic is the free emergency number, Developer a weekday helpline, Business a 24/7 mechanic, and Enterprise your own named mechanic who knows your car. Partners are the garages and dealers, Marketplace is the accessory shop, and Professional Services is a consultant who comes to your driveway.

Examples

Which plan fits?

Situation                                          Plan
-------------------------------------------------  ---------------------
Learning on a personal account                     Basic
Testing a prototype, business-hours help is fine   Developer
Production workload needs 24/7 engineers           Business
Critical workloads, wants a pool of TAMs           Enterprise On-Ramp
Mission-critical, wants a designated TAM           Enterprise

Match urgency and operational criticality: the higher the stakes, the faster the response and the more proactive the help.

Open a support case from the CLI

# Requires a Business or higher plan
aws support create-case \
  --subject "Production RDS failover question" \
  --service-code amazon-rds --severity-code high \
  --communication-body "Describe what happened and when." \
  --language en

The Support API is available only with Business, Enterprise On-Ramp or Enterprise plans.

How it works

Support plans differ in who answers (associate vs engineer vs TAM), how fast (response times by severity), what is included (Trusted Advisor checks, architecture reviews, event management), and price (a monthly minimum or percentage of usage). Upgrade for a month when you need help, then downgrade, because plans bill monthly with no long-term contract.

Partners join the APN through requirements such as training and validated customer success. Marketplace sellers publish listings; buyers subscribe, and AWS bills the charges alongside regular AWS usage.

  Self-service (free)       Paid help               Experts
  re:Post, Knowledge        Support plans:          Partners (ISV, SI)
  Center, docs, Skill       Basic < Developer <     Professional Services
  Builder, Prescriptive     Business < On-Ramp <    Solutions Architects
  Guidance                  Enterprise (TAM)        IQ, AMS, Marketplace

Why does it exist?

Cloud adoption needs guidance. Some customers want only documentation; others need engineers on call or a partner to design a whole migration. A tiered offering lets each pay for the level of help that matches their risk.

When to use it

Choose a support plan based on production criticality. Use re:Post and Knowledge Center first for common questions, Partners or Professional Services for large projects, Marketplace to buy ready-made software, IQ for short expert tasks, AMS when you want AWS to operate your environment, and Activate when you are a startup.

When not to use it

Do not run business-critical production on Basic or Developer expecting 24/7 engineer help. Do not rely on Trust & Safety for account or billing problems - that is Support or Customer Service.

Common mistakes

  • Believing Basic includes technical support cases (it covers billing and account issues).

  • Confusing a TAM (Enterprise) with an AWS Solutions Architect (free pre-sales guidance).

  • Treating AWS Marketplace as free software - you pay the vendor's price through AWS billing.

  • Reporting abuse through a support case instead of the Trust & Safety team.

  • Forgetting that plan features and response times can change; check current AWS documentation.

Practice exercises

  1. Easy:

    Order the five support plans from least to most support and name one feature that appears at each step.

  2. Medium:

    A startup runs a production app and has one engineer on call. Recommend a plan and justify it.

  3. Medium:

    List four benefits of buying software through AWS Marketplace.

  4. Hard:

    A company is migrating hundreds of servers. Describe which partner and AWS resources you would use at each phase.

Interview questions

Exam-style: Which support plan first provides a designated Technical Account Manager?

Enterprise Support (Enterprise On-Ramp offers a pool of TAMs).

Exam-style: Which plan is the cheapest to include 24/7 access to Cloud Support Engineers?

Business Support.

Exam-style: Where do you report an AWS resource being used to send spam?

AWS Trust & Safety.

Exam-style: Which resource is a community-driven Q&A site for AWS questions?

AWS re:Post.

Exam-style: Which AWS service lets you find and buy third-party software with charges on your AWS bill?

AWS Marketplace.

Exam-style: Which offering operates a customer's AWS infrastructure for them?

AWS Managed Services (AMS).

Exam-style: Which program helps startups with credits and training?

AWS Activate.

What does an ISV do versus an SI in the AWS Partner Network?

An ISV builds software products that run on AWS; a systems integrator designs and implements solutions for customers.